Dictionary!

I have just reached 1000 definitions in my English to Old Norse dictionary. I thought now would be a good time to introduce this thread for people to request for words they'd like to see in my dictionary. Please feel free to list a few if you like, words you want in my dictionary. I will find the appropriate Norse word or words even if I have to guess what they would have said.
e.g. Yoghurt, n. mjólkgrautr (m). (milk - porridge) I would guess that that is what they would have thought, had the Norsemen seen any yoghurt.

When you said e-mail on the facebook group, I had a thought for that one. What's the closest a Norseman would know to electricity? Lightning. So perhaps lightning writing?

Or perhaps instant/quick writing, because you type it out fast, click send and it's done. No scrawling then walking to where you want your writing to end up!

That's a damn good idea...

Hmmm... so far I'd stolen the modern Icelandic word for computer "tǫlva"
And had thought of e-mail as being computer-post... so tǫlvupostr...

But internet-post could work better... but we'd need a word for internet on it's own...

Since the new word for electricity is Þórsmagn (Thor's might)... it could be
something like Lightning-net. XD

Because a net is a good concept for the internet... how it's all connected etc.

Could you translate internet directly from English? Inter-net.

You could... but I don't think it would sound good as a term... besides it would be misleading... the internet was so called from what it originally was, the American defence system... but without that history... the Old Norse word would simply have to represent what it is now... it's some kind of net... but maybe an electric-net or something similar... I think people need to contribute their ideas... though joining this forum would be a start wouldn't it?! Still a lot of people on the facebook group who haven't registered... leaving this forum rather inactive. It's too quiet in here sometimes. XD

Nightfall in my hall, all I can do is recall as I sit alone in the darkness... >_>

Do you have words for other common autmobiles yet? I know you have car, but what about bus, lorry, plane etc? Could we look at the Icelandic words, pick apart their literal meanings/origins and apply that to Old Norse?

Okay, my ideas so far have been...

Frjálsvagn for a car... means a free-wagon or a free-cart. It's free because it has no horses to pull it.

Or just "Vagn" as a more informal word for a car. In terms of use... I would imagine that in every day conversation
most people would say "vagn" for car... however, if it was anything like a written document, anything important...
They'd use the proper term of "frjálsvagn".

A bus I'd had as "gǫtuvagn" which means "street-wagon"... I think this was an adaptation of Icelandic or Faroese... not my own coinage.

Lorry or truck I'd had as "flutningsvagn" meaning "transport-wagon"... again, I don't think I'd come up with the term... probably adapted from Icelandic or Faroese... possible even Norwegian Bokmål. (though I don't tend to go for Norwegian unless I'm really stuck)...

and Plane was "flugvél" meaning "flight-machine"... this is also the modern Icelandic word for airplane... but by luck it hadn't changed both elements "flug" "vél" from Old Norse... so it's the same.

The general process of working out a word has gone as follows...
Step 1) look it up in Zoëga
Step 2) if it wasn't there, you need to coin a new word, so check the Icelandic and see if it's appropriate to translate
Step 3) if it wasn't appropriate, check the Faroese and do the same
Step 4) at a pinch, you can check Norwegian... so long as you translate each element into the Old Norse.
Step 5) if nothing was appropriate, make up your own word based on various elements... for example... biscuit = hardcake.

So we have common transport down it seems! Except maybe train, bicycle and motorcycle :P

Well for train I thought of adapting the meaning of Zoëga's Old Norse word "lest" which means "a train of pack-horses". In terms of what it represents, it's the same... just that the technology's been updated... so the same word should still apply.

As for bicycle and motorbike, I will have to think about that...

*studies* *studies*

Bicycle - reiðhjól (same as Icelandic)
Reið is both Icelandic and Old Norse for riding... and Hjól is both Icelandic and Old Norse for wheel...


Motorcycle - vélhjól (same as Icelandic)
Vél is both Icelandic and Old Norse for machine.

Excellent...two new entries?

DVD - as the board description says, what IS the ON for DVD?

Well, perhaps we can come up with a word. I am thinking we go down the route of another acronym.

Digital
Versatile
Disc

Digital - from the Latin "digitus' apparently. Though it would look weird to 'finger' in the name. Therefore, I suggest we use the ON equivalent of "discreet" (i.e. Digital --> discreet intervals)

Versatile and disc should have equivalents somewhere, right?

DVD's a good one. One I've thought about already... but it could do with a review...

DVD, n. myndbandskringla (f); MBK (f).


Myndband - video
Kringla - disc


Obviously, we all know that DVDs are very versatile and a lot more can be done with DVDs than just videos...
But I think in terms of what a DVD NORMALLY is, we don't have to be too pedantic.

Just because it's called a video disc... doesn't mean it can't be used for other things...
And most people seem to think DVD stands for Digital Video Disc anyway.

Another one to think about is CD...

CD, n. hǫrðkringla (f); HK (f).

Hard disc

What do we think about that?

Not compact disc? In which case, what would one call a computer hard drive/disc? :P

Being a proud Norseman... even a plough is complicated technology to me. So I know very little about computers and what not...

What's the difference between a Compact Disc and a Computer Hard Disc?

Á! Wikipedia teaches all! Well Auðvarðr...

I suppose it would be wise to use part of the Icelandic word for CD. Geisladiskur...
Obviously diskur is a loan word which we frown upon here at the ONT-project. So we'll use
the "kringla" word we used before...

Geislakringla (f) (ray/beam disc)

And Hǫrðkringla (f) could be the Hard Disc/Drive, as you suggested.

Other terms: computer - tǫluvǫlva (f) (adapted from tölva from Icelandic. Tölva is a blend of Tala and Völva, but Norse doesn't have blends), however, like how PC is used as a short nickname, we could use Tǫlva, even though Tǫluvǫlva is the correct term.

Computer monitor - Tǫluvǫlvuskjár (m), / Tǫlvuskjár (m) (borrowed from Icelandic)
Computer keyboard - Lyklaborð (n) (borrowed from Icelandic)
Computer mouse - Tǫluvǫlvumús (f), / Tǫlvumús (f) (borrowed from Icelandic)
Speaker - Hátalari (m), (adapted from Icelandic)
Computer speaker - Tǫluvǫlvuhátalari (m), / Tǫlvuhátalari (m)

Beam disc -> epic idea!

(how did I forget this?) there's also the Faroese word "fløga" which, I think, literally means "a slice"